The problem is that with terms of racial prejudice, particularly, it is difficult to treat them as trivial, even if others (perhaps mistakenly) see them as such. People have been killed and abused and raped and hurt using these terms in the past, and it is not so simple to disregard.

We will not get past it (as people, as humanity), unless we object to it, and make our objection known.

None of this is to say that anyone who saw the particular item in question and either did not make the association or was not offended by the association needs to revolutionize their thought process or feel inadequate for not thinking in that direction. But those who did take note have every right to strenuously object.

Errrrmmmm... not sure I buy that argument. To me, it smells too much like "sex education will make kids more promiscuous". Education is ultimately always a positive.

I agree about the latter, see the rest of my post.

What I'm saying is that the outcry and hue, without an educated background is only going to raise the words use in the less informed, who will not be further educated on racism, and indeed might even enjoy having another word to ascribe to "them that are different."

It's soft serve ice cream and coffee. I don't think that anyone at DQ had a clue. And that's all there is to it. Someone will get fired and someone will issue an apology and that's all there is to it.

Daniel, who gives a shit about giving assholes another epithet? They were assholes before the vocabulary increase, and it doesn't increase their assholeness, it increases their vocab.

The school play when I was in 8th grade (1978) was West Side Story. I had to ask what Mick, Spic, and Wop meant.

What do Mick and Wop mean?

I just learned spic last year, when there was a "racial incident" on my campus. (And it wasn't even a real incident - the guy made up the story himself to get attention or something.)

I learned mulatto and mesquito (sp?) in elementary school history. So I'm pretty sure those aren't negative ones, cuz we were even tested on knowing those terms.

I never realized "gypped" came from that context (or even that it was spelled with a "y").

Hmm...Racial slurs are strangely interesting.

I learned mulatto and mesquito (sp?) in elementary school history. So I'm pretty sure those aren't negative ones, cuz we were even tested on knowing those terms.

Hahaha! Sorry. I still remember how the American History textbook at my high school referred "sun-basking Spanish Americans", and to Native Americans as "near-naked savages." We and the teachers were smart enough to know it was offensive and to discuss it in that context, but I strongly suspect many other schools let it slip by. Which is to say, just because a teacher was ignorant doesn't mean it's not offensive.

Oh, Mick = Irish
Wop = Italian

Mick = Irish

Wop = Italian

Neither are very nice, though I'd say that wop carries a greater blow. I might joke with an Irish person about being a mick - I wouldn't go there with wop.

Mulatto is more negative in what it implies (along with quadroon, octoroon, etc.) that there's something meaningful about your percentage of white blood. I'm not sure I'd call these outright offensive (though I'm not someone likely to hear them directed at me, so take that for what it's worth) but insensitive? Yeah. Harking back to a perception of race that would be better left behind? Oh yeah.

mesquito (sp?)

I think you mean mestizo.

From Dictionary.com: A person of mixed racial ancestry, especially of mixed European and Native American ancestry.

FWIW, I've mostly know mestizo to be used in Mexico/ Central America, and it doesn't seem to have the same negative overtones. IME, anyway. That might have something to do with being applicable to a fair majority of the population, so it seems more descriptinve than perjorative.

And the French/Amerind version is "Métis."